The Night Train at Deoli is a real-life story inspired by the author’s own life. The story is about a station called Deoli, a small station 30 miles away from Dehra, where the narrator’s grandmother lives. The author used to spend every summer vacation at his grandmother’s house which is located in Dehra.
The Night Train At Deoli By Ruskin Bond
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Summary of The Night Train at Deoli in English By Ruskin Bond
The novel “The Night Train at Deoli” is written by the famous Anglo-Indian writer Ruskin Bond and it was first published in 1988. The narrator of the novel is Ruskin Bond who shares his train experience throughout the book. Every summer, the narrator goes to his grandmother’s house for some work and on the way to his grandmother’s house, he comes across a railway station called Deoli, which is a very small railway station.
His grandmother’s house is in Dehra which is thirty miles away from Deoli station. The strange thing is that when the train stops at Deoli station for 10 minutes, but neither anyone goes out of the train nor anyone comes inside the train.
Whenever the narrator comes to Deoli station, he feels very strange because there are dense forests around the station. As soon as summer comes, the narrator goes to his grandmother’s house and as usual he passes through Deoli station where he saw a poor girl who was selling baskets at the station without wearing anything on her feet in such a cold place.
The narrator saw the girl’s hair which was shining, and the girl also had attractive eyes which the narrator finds very amazing. A girl realizes that the narrator is staring at her but she ignores it at first but after a while she goes to the narrator and asks him if he wants to buy a basket made of fine wood which the author refuses at first but due to the persistent effort of the girl he has to buy that basket.
Further, the narrator reaches his grandmother’s house but he is unable to sleep during his train journey as he was still thinking about a girl who is now a part of his memories. After spending two months at grandmother’s house, the narrator comes back to his home and as usual he passes through Deoli station where the narrator saw the basket girl again and felt very good and they kept talking for some time as if they were childhood friends.
A girl and the narrator look very happy during their conversation as they have not forgotten their last meeting which happened two months ago when the narrator was coming to his grandmother’s house. The narrator took the girl’s hand in his hand and requested her to come to Delhi but she rejected his request and said that one day we will meet again soon. He told her that I will come back to this station soon, will you come to meet me again?
The girl says neither yes nor no and bids him goodbye and moves ahead to sell her basket. As the story progresses, we come to know that the narrator’s graduation is about to be completed, and he decides to meet his grandmother again, but we all know why the narrator is going to his grandmother’s house in Dehra because he loves that girl with the basket. The narrator leaves for Dehra and when the train passes through Deoli, he stops at the station to meet that girl but he does not find her anywhere. He asks about the girl from some locals who told him that a girl has stopped coming to the station.
He leaves for Dehra but is still thinking about the girl with a basket as he loves her looks and memories so much. When the narrator comes back from his grandmother’s house, he once again searches for the girl but finds her nowhere and finally, he decides to move on.
The moral of the story is that people come and people go and that is life but we should never mourn for them as it gives nothing but pain.
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